New twist in Ecclesiastes (Abrahamic Dir)

[Brickjectivity]

Have you ever tried straightening a paper clip? Its an imperfect process. There is a complaint in Ecclesiastes I think about from time to time. He complains "What is crooked cannot be straightened..." (NIV 1:15) I've always thought of this in terms of metal though its not about metal per se. That isn't all of his meaning, and in context he's saying everything is meaningless, that he can't permanently accomplish anything. He's expressing the frustration of every old man. Problems keep repeating themselves. He's talking about crooked people, people "Bent on evil," "Crooked paths," and anything that isn't "Upright." We'd call this the cycle of History. In Ecclesiastes a righteous thing is vertical like a tree, but an unrighteous thing is fallen over and dead. A bent thing is partway, and he complains that it seems nothing bent can be made upright. Its always partial or temporary. If you fix something, you still die and then it gets messed up again. If you paint a boat it must be painted again, and then eventually someone will forget to paint it. It will waste and sink. Weed return. Everything will crumble.

That being said I found a youtube video that seemed inspiring, showing that you can straighten some things. This man shows how he straightens, in a forge, a heavy wire that is crooked. I wonder what the writer of Ecclesiastes would have said if he could have seen this? I think he would have taken some comfort and inspiration from it. I have adjusted the video link to the part where he shows how its done.

Video set to 550 seconds

 

[halbhh]

Have you ever tried straightening a paper clip? Its an imperfect process. There is a complaint in Ecclesiastes I think about from time to time. He complains "What is crooked cannot be straightened..." (NIV 1:15) I've always thought of this in terms of metal though its not about metal per se. That isn't all of his meaning, and in context he's saying everything is meaningless, that he can't permanently accomplish anything. He's expressing the frustration of every old man. Problems keep repeating themselves. He's talking about crooked people, people "Bent on evil," "Crooked paths," and anything that isn't "Upright." We'd call this the cycle of History. In Ecclesiastes a righteous thing is vertical like a tree, but an unrighteous thing is fallen over and dead. A bent thing is partway, and he complains that it seems nothing bent can be made upright. Its always partial or temporary. If you fix something, you still die and then it gets messed up again. If you paint a boat it must be painted again, and then eventually someone will forget to paint it. It will waste and sink. Weed return. Everything will crumble.

That being said I found a youtube video that seemed inspiring, showing that you can straighten some things. This man shows how he straightens, in a forge, a heavy wire that is crooked. I wonder what the writer of Ecclesiastes would have said if he could have seen this? I think he would have taken some comfort and inspiration from it. I have adjusted the video link to the part where he shows how its done.

Video set to 550 seconds

I just really love Ecclesiastes.

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

'What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.'​

I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes 1 NIV

To me, this seems to be ultimately about not just trying to fix the mess of human life in a given moment, trying to mend a broken heart or how to make peace last in a nation (instead of only being a cycle) or other such, but is further reaching. It's about our human state of being fallen from the perfect grace situation. Taking the 'fruit of the knowledge of good and evil' for ourselves -- trying to judge others for ourselves, instead of trusting Him Who is higher than us, leaves us lost.